Honolulu Disposal Success Story

Ruggedized and Wireless for Expected—and Unexpected—Challenges

Eccleshall says he likes the fact that the radar sensors are ruggedized to resist harsh environmental conditions including dirt, mud, rain, snow, and ice. Originally from Canada, he was all-too-familiar with these challenges. Moving to Hawaii, he soon found more.

“I didn’t know rats could be so destructive,” he says. “A garbage truck could be full of all kinds of good food, but all the rats seem to want to eat are electrical cables. It doesn’t take long at all for them to chew through the cables and disable the collision warning system.”

He was understandably thrilled when PRECO released its new PreView WorkSight Wireless radar system. Not only did the wireless solution prevent rodents from putting his trucks out of service, it also eliminated the need to install more than 75 feet of warning system cabling per truck, and dramatically reduced installation time.

“PRECO reduced our typical per-truck installation time by more than 60 percent. When you multiply that across a fleet of more than 200 vehicles, that’s a lot of savings. Plus the wireless system eliminates the problem we’ve been having with salt corrosion. As tightly made as electrical cables are assembled these days, we still have problems when the salt works its way into the cable couplings, corrodes them, and shorts them out. WorkSight Wireless makes all of that go away.”

The Real Bottom Line

EVP Eccleshall has been in the waste industry long enough to know that accidents happen despite everyone’s best efforts. They happen in Hawaii, in Canada, in the United States, and all around the world.

“People do funny things,” he says. “They walk behind vehicles. They pull in behind trucks that have pulled into dead-end alleys. They don’t hear the back-up alarms or see the signs to ‘stay back 50 feet’ or ‘watch for wide turns.’ So we look for ways to get ahead of the curve, like using technology to reduce the effects of human error. PRECO’s collision mitigation solutions—especially their wireless systems—have saved us money. But in the end, it’s not about the money. It’s about safety.”

Customer Profile

Honolulu Disposal Service, Inc. is a private solid waste management company based in Honolulu, Hawaii. Incorporated in 2003, Honolulu Disposal provides collection, transfer, recycling, and disposal of non-hazardous materials to Hawaiian governmental, commercial, and municipal sectors. With facilities on Oahu, Maui, and Kauai, Honolulu Disposal manages a fleet of more than 220 refuse trucks, front loaders, and other vehicles.

About Company

PRECO Electronics has been developing safety technologies since 1947.

We believe that those responsible for heavy-duty equipment operations have a desire to keep the people and property around them safe and free from harm. We design, engineer and manufacture heavy-duty collision mitigation technology so operators and fleets can perform with greater confidence and peace of mind.

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